Program would expand pre-K in state

Updated 11:52 pm, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Brittney Garcia, 4, partcipates in an exercise that teaches children to recognize numbers at the Salvation Army - The Right Place, a pre-school funded by the state school readiness grant the city receives, Wednesday, April 9, 2014. less

Brittney Garcia, 4, partcipates in an exercise that teaches children to recognize numbers at the Salvation Army - The Right Place, a pre-school funded by the state school readiness grant the city receives, ... more

Teacher Kelly Black gives some encouragement to Daisy Cordova, 3, at the Salvation Army - The Right Place preschool in Danbury, Conn. Wednesday, April 9, 2014. The schoo is funded by a state readiness grant the city receives. less

Teacher Kelly Black gives some encouragement to Daisy Cordova, 3, at the Salvation Army - The Right Place preschool in Danbury, Conn. Wednesday, April 9, 2014. The schoo is funded by a state readiness grant the ... more

Brittney Garcia, 4, Jasmine Inness, 5, and Leonardo Mendonca, 5, look overa book at the Salvation Army - The Right Place preschool Wednesday, April 9, 2014. The school is funded by a state school readiness grant the city receives. less

Brittney Garcia, 4, Jasmine Inness, 5, and Leonardo Mendonca, 5, look overa book at the Salvation Army - The Right Place preschool Wednesday, April 9, 2014. The school is funded by a state school readiness ... more

Teacher Kelly Black ties a loose shoe lace for Aaron Bravo, 4, at the Salvation Army - The Right Place preschool Wednesday, April 9, 2014, in Danbury, Conn. The school is funded by a state school readiness grant that the city receives. less

Teacher Kelly Black ties a loose shoe lace for Aaron Bravo, 4, at the Salvation Army - The Right Place preschool Wednesday, April 9, 2014, in Danbury, Conn. The school is funded by a state school readiness ... more

HARTFORD -- The effort to provide universal pre-kindergarten in the state took a step forward Wednesday with majority Democrats in the Legislature announcing a proposed 10-year, $200 million commitment to create as many as 50,000 slots for 3- and 4-year-olds.

The program, if enacted as legislation, would one-up a budget plan announced by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in January to provide funding for 1,020 slots in the new year and 4,000 in priority school districts by 2019.

The focus of the new plan announced Wednesday would be on underperforming school districts such as Bridgeport, but Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams, D-Brooklyn, said the entire state should benefit in the long run. He called the proposal a complement to Malloy's plan.

Speaker of the House Brenda Sharkey, D-Hamden, said the initiative would expand on 2010 state legislation that came when lawmakers faced a billion-dollar budget deficit. The new legislation will help close the achievement gap, he said.

"We're already starting to see those seeds take root and develop our state in a positive direction," Sharkey said. "One of those areas where we really worked hard on was the issue of early childhood education and education in general. And I think we have seen already the benefits of those initial steps taken three years ago coming to fruition now in Connecticut."

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said the program is crucial to closing the achievement gap.

"Young children enter kindergarten, and therefore first grade, in too many cases, unprepared," Looney said. "They are already a year or two behind, developmentally. They are aware of their own inadequacies and deficiencies in that setting, so school too often for them becomes a place of humiliation and embarrassment that they turn off to and look to get out as soon as they can."

The program would utilize empty classrooms in public school buildings and $10 million a year in state bonding for capital expenses. Another $10 million a year for operating expenses would come from the Tobacco Trust Fund.

Cities and towns would be eligible for five-year grants, with the opportunity for renewals based on the quality of programs. Funds used for slots would be provided on a sliding scale, with parents paying a portion of tuition costs.

Williams said planning for the joint House and Senate effort also included educators.

"We're talking about nothing less than basic fairness in education," he said in an ornate Capitol meeting room. "We're talking about equal opportunity in education. If you think about running the 100-yard dash, everybody should start at the starting line, not 20 or 50 yards behind the starting line. But without high-quality pre-K education for some of our children, they start way behind the starting line, and that is unfair."

There are between 70,000 and 76,000 3- and 4-year-olds in the state, according to the state's Office of Early Childhood. About 19,250 are in state-subsidized child care programs, including school readiness, Head Start and state-funded child care programs. The state estimates there are about 4,010 3- and 4-year-olds who could be in preschool programs if their parents could afford it.

It is unclear how many slots could be made available if the funding was there. Diana Lejardi, a spokeswoman for the Office of Early Childhood, said a request for proposals has been posted and is due in May.

"The responses to the RFP will give us an idea of how many spaces communities will be able to accommodate," Lejardi said.

State Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, a longtime early childhood advocate, said there is empty space in schools that can be converted into pre-kindergarten classrooms. Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, co-chairwoman of the Legislature's Education Committee, said the evidence is undeniable that students who attend good preschool programs do better in school.

The state has been moving to increase the percentage of children, particularly those from low-income homes, attending preschools since M. Jodi Rell was governor.

In Bridgeport, Interim Schools Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz said she would do all that she could to find extra classrooms to establish new preschool spaces, should the funding become available.

"We would find the room," Rabinowitz said. "There is a ton of research out there that shows the benefits of a quality preschool program."

Rabinowitz said she would especially like to see preschool at both Marin and Bryant Schools, which are candidates to become part of the state's Commissioner's Network.

At present, just 68 percent of Bridgeport students enter kindergarten with preschool experience.

In Trumbull, First Selectman Tim Herbst, a big supporter of early childhood interventions, said he welcomes having the state help in the cost of delivering comprehensive pre-kindergarten programs.

"(It) will offset the cost to local municipalities that are dealing with the difficult task of trying to keep property taxes stable while delivering superior services to our residents," Herbst said.